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Avanti: The Complete Story | 
 enlarge | Author: John Hull
Publisher: Iconografix
Category: Book
List Price: $34.95
Buy New: $23.06
You Save: $11.89 (34%)
New (12) from $23.06
Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 164667
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 128
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 10.9 x 8.3 x 0.6
ISBN: 1583882138
Dewey Decimal Number: 629.2222
EAN: 9781583882139
ASIN: 1583882138
Publication Date: April 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
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Product Description
Avanti is Italian for “forward” or ?advance,” and the car lived up to its name. This book tells the amazing story from the Avanti inception in South Bend, Indiana, to its current status in Cancun, Mexico. Many original source documents, factory photographs, corporate records, advertisements and first hand accounts trace the evolution of this American classic. The Avanti design was conceived by one of the greatest industrial designers Raymond Loewy and his associates for Studebaker. The Avanti was Studebakers shining star for a brief period of time (1963-1964 models years) before the company exited the automobile manufacturing business in the United States in December of 1963. The Avanti exhibited phoenix like traits a number of times since and has gone through more than a handful of owners along with updates in design, maintaining a loyal customer base large enough to support production as a luxury specialty car on and off for more than 45 years. Get the full scoop on the companies and people who helped keep Avanti alive.
Book Description
The Avanti design was conceived by one of the greatest industrial designers, Raymond Loewy, and his associates for Studebaker. It was Studebakers shining star for a brief period of time (1963-1964 models years) before the company exited the automobile manufacturing business in the United States in December of 1963. The Avanti exhibited phoenix like traits a number of times since and has gone through more than a handful of owners along with updates in design, maintaining a loyal customer base large enough to support production as a luxury specialty car for more than 45 years. Get the full scoop on the companies and people who helped keep Avanti alive. Many original source documents, factory photographs, corporate records, advertisements and first hand accounts trace the evolution of this American classic.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Best single book on Avanti cars June 26, 2008
If you are into Avanti cars, this is a must have book. It covers from the original Studebaker through the Avanti IIs through the years and still being built today - well sort of.
 Avanti The Complete Story June 2, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"The Complete Story" may be a bit misleading if you're an Avanti fan looking for the complete story. If the photos were removed from the 126 page book, the reader would be left with about 35 pages of text to tell the complete 45 year story. Not that the pictures aren't interesting, many are quite nice, rare, and unusual. Avanti fans will enjoy them. The text, however, tends to ramble in places, lacks insight into important aspects of the Avanti's history, and leaves the reader, at least this one, wanting more. Perhaps, "Avanti A Brief Overview With Pictures" would have been a better title. That said, it was probably worh the Amazon price. I would have been disappointed if I had paid the suggested retail price.
A good production history, but technical details are missing May 9, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
A suggestion....
Any future editions of this book should be renamed "Avanti The Manufacturing Story".
Hull brings together the various lives of the Avanti, a story that spans no less than five decades, four production factories and enough owners and principals to fill several of the fiberglass luxury cars.
The book traces the history of the Raymond Lowey designed coupe from its inception as a potential savior /image car for the venerable Studebaker company to its latest incarnation as a Mustang re-clothed in body panels that manage to be both retro and futuristic at the same time.
Hull knows his subject well as a one time CFO for the latest resurrection effort and as the editor of the Avanti club magazine. He does a commendable job in putting the pieces together. Minor criticisms include not using many direct quotes from important figures. Hull paraphrases a magazine interview (which he references) with #3 Avanti owner Stephen Blake and a panel discussion by owner #4, Mike Kelly. Why not use the men's own words?
My biggest complaint is what you won't find here... details of the cars themselves.
Aside from a nice production total which finally answers who made how many, and where, most technical details: engines, performance specifications and importantly, prices are missing. A few answers are tucked away in ads and company literature pieces that have been reproduced (often too small) but I think he could have made a stronger effort to help the reader place the Avanti in the general automotive world. Later versions are noting as being produced on Monte Carlo, Caprice, Firebird and Mustang chassis. I would have like to learn how those were accomplished. Did the factory arrange to buy chassis and drivetrains...or did they have to buy a entire car and "throw away" the original bodies? Hull mentions that there were several donor-car proposals for the late 1990s AVX project. It would have been nice to see them. They have been published in a recent issue of the Avanti magazine, so I know they're out there.
Most photos are reproductions of factory pieces. Unfortunately, nearly all the shots of the Studebaker cars (which make up the majority of the total Avanti population) are limited to a pair of prototype cars. They are interesting to see the, but six pages of the same two cars? Sadly, no new photos of the 63-64 cars are included which would help the casual reader learn to what extent the original cars are lovingly maintained and restored by faithful owners. Also, factory production shots of the Studebaker -era cars are missing along with details of advertising. The factory record setting effort is mentioned only in passing.
If you want to learn a technical history of the car, I'd recommend "Avanti Limited Edition Extra" a collection of old and new magazine tests and articles complied and published by Brooklands in the United Kingdom and a subscription to the Avanti Magazine published by the Avanti Owners Association International.
So, it's a nice book for an Avanti owner or fan to have. But a newcomer to the car will only be getting half of the history for the car that won't die.
Nice, concise overview of the entire Avanti saga May 7, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
John Hull is an Avanti afficionado who was intimately involved with one of the most recent efforts to revive this marque. The numerous color photos of the various incarnations of this Raymond Loewy design will appeal to the Avanti enthusiast as well as to anyone who wants to "see" the evolution of this sleek, 'glas-bodied classic. The text is both accurate and concise, presenting a balanced view of the history of the car that has far outlived its parent company, the Studebaker Corporation.
Each successive chapter discusses the evolution of the Avanti beginning with its Studebaker origins, through the stewardship by Newman & Altman, Kelly, Cafaro, Bunting, and Seaton - culminating with the 2006 transition to Cancun, Mexico and the arrest of Mike Kelly on Federal charges related to his hotel businesses.
The production data from 1962-2007 is the most comprehensive and accurate compilation ever offered. Overall, this is an excellent overview of the fascinating history of this American classic.
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